Honor crimes fester in the dark privacy of the home. It is time to expose these abuses to the light of public scrutiny and the law.

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A week earlier in Lahore, Farzana Iqbal was brutally beaten to death with bricks by up to two dozen relatives, including her father, for marrying the man she loved. Sadly, hundreds of women and girls are subject to “honor” killings in Pakistan every year.

For many communities in Pakistan, women and girls are seen to embody family honor. A woman’s identity and her family’s sense of social respect and worth is measured by her acquiescence to family demands, such as marrying the man they choose for her.

What made Iqbal’s death unique was the fact that the perpetrators chose to kill her so brazenly, outside one of the most respected state institutions: the Lahore High Court, in the second largest city in Pakistan and arguably its cultural capital. By all accounts, instead of protecting Iqbal and saving her life, the police stood by and watched the crime unfold.

Most cases like this, however, receive scant attention by the public and the police, as they often happen in small villages or behind closed doors. In February, for example, Ayat Bibi was bludgeoned to death in a north Balochistan village on the orders of a local cleric after being accused by a male relative of having relations with a man named Daraz Khan, who was also killed. Ayat and Daraz’s final resting places are both unmarked graves. Those responsible for the killings have not been brought to justice.

Farzana Iqbal’s killing, and the publicity that followed, shamed Pakistan’s prime minister and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court into demanding investigations into the incident. Most of the key culprits were soon in jail, and the murder trial is expected to begin shortly. Some politicians and religious leaders have condemned the killing, a welcome move in a country where all too often violence against women is ignored or even justified based on religious or cultural values.

Hundreds of women and girls are subject to “honor” killings in Pakistan every year and that number runs into the thousands worldwide (Photo Credit: Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images).

Seeking justice is extremely problematic in Pakistan, as a wide legal loophole currently exists that allows perpetrators of “honor” killings to escape any punishment. Under Pakistani law in cases of murder, the victim’s family is allowed to pardon the perpetrators. The culprits are then free from prosecution and sentencing.

Often, the most severe punishments for transgressions of “honor” or for bringing “shame” on a family are decreed by councils of tribal elders – in which women have no place. In Pakistan, the statistics vary from around 900 to just over 1,000 each year. But these figures represent only instances documented by human rights groups based on reports from the media or law enforcement authorities.

Addressing these issues, whether in Pakistan, or anywhere else in the world, is challenging because the causes are complex. But like so many other social problems, positive change must start at home. Too often, the home is where the use of violence becomes normalized. It is where the citizen gets conditioned to believe that violence is an acceptable, particularly to excuse violence that is carried out to protect perceived social standing, national honor, or religious sentiments.

Honor crimes fester in the dark privacy of the home. It is time to expose these abuses to the light of public scrutiny and the law. A number of states have outlawed honor killings and other forms of gender-based violence. But those laws require effective implementation, police and other law enforcement professionals must be trained on gender-based violence. And victims must be confident in the ability of the police and other authorities to assist them.

The education system is also a key battleground, because it is one of the rare public spaces where young minds can be empowered to challenge gender stereotypes and made aware that violence in the home is unacceptable. Public figures, and especially men, must openly speak out: not only to condemn honor killings, but to acknowledge that these abuses are not random or sporadic incidents but a much wider problem.

Empirical research in this area is limited, but there is ample anecdotal evidence that public exposure is the most effective way to address the issue, because it forces society to confront the reality that there is no honor in killing women and girls for choosing to live life on their own terms.

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3 thoughts on “SHOCKING: Surge of Honor Killings in Pakistan”

Pakistan Police mostly have official from the rural areas (teemed up with crime's nurseries) and they are obsessed with this syndrome. Such crimes are not crimes to them literally. They do not take the offence seriously and often, rather at all times, support the offender and file a weak case for his prosecution. The bastards, who commit honour killings must be shot to death before a firing squad without listening to their false justification. Killing means death penalty. Thats it..

Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence, is, collectively, violent …. in developing countries. For example, dowry violence and bride burning is associated with India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, see here for more information: http://www.likeit.pk